4.  The applicant was born in 1974 and lives in Istanbul.
5.  Between 16 May and 30 May 1996 the applicant was detained in police custody in connection with an investigation into an illegal organisation. He claimed to have been subjected to various forms of ill‑treatment whilst in custody. In the application form the applicant complained, in particular, that he had been blindfolded, suspended from the arms, electrocuted, stripped and beaten. He further submitted that he had been arrested on either 13 or 14 May 1996.
6.  On 30 May 1996 the applicant was examined at the Istanbul State Security Court by a doctor from the Forensic Medicine Institute, who found that the applicant had pain and difficulty in hearing in his right ear and numbness in his left arm. The doctor recommended the applicant be transferred to a hospital for a neurological and an EGM test (an electromyogram is a test that is used to record the electrical activity of muscles).
7.  An additional medical examination of the same date at the Taksim State Hospital revealed that there were no pathological findings in the applicant's ears but that there were symptoms of brachial plexitis (damage to nerves) on the left arm. The doctor recommended an EGM test, which revealed no pathology at the time of the test, 18 October 2000.
8.  On 30 May 1996 the applicant was brought before the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court, where he accepted the contents of his statements given to the police and gave information about various events. He also requested to be transferred to a State hospital on the ground that he had some complaints. Afterwards the applicant was brought before a judge at the Istanbul State Security Court, where he accepted his earlier submissions. The judge remanded him in custody.
9.  On the same day the applicant and five other suspects arrested and detained on the same grounds as the applicant (“complainants”) lodged an official complaint with the Istanbul public prosecutor's office against the police officers who had taken part in their questioning, claiming that they had been ill‑treated.
10.  On 3 July 1997 the Istanbul public prosecutor transferred the complainants' case to the Fatih public prosecutor's office.
11.  On 13 April 1998 the Fatih public prosecutor heard evidence from the applicant, who complained in particular of being blindfolded, suspended from his arms, electrocuted, stripped and beaten. He submitted that he had been arrested on either 13 or 14 May 1996, and that during his custody period he had been transferred to different anti-terrorism headquarters in various parts of Turkey. The applicant further claimed that his arm had been injured because he had struggled while he was being suspended and that the problem in his ear resulted from a blow. He alleged that he had been ill‑treated by at least twenty to twenty-five police officers and that he would be able to identify most of them.
12.  On 12 May 1998 the prosecutor decided that; in the absence of evidence proving the allegations, there was no need to prosecute any police officer at the Anti-Terrorist Branch of the Istanbul Security Headquarters.
13.  The applicant objected to this decision before the Beyoğlu Assize Court.
14.  Meanwhile, by an indictment dated 27 June 1996, the public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court initiated criminal proceedings against the applicant and ten others, accusing them, inter alia, of membership of an illegal armed organisation and of taking part in various robberies and killings on its behalf.
15.  On 7 July 1996 criminal proceedings against the applicant commenced before the Istanbul State Security Court. In the hearing held on 20 November 1996 the court heard the applicant, who retracted his statements given to the police and the public prosecutor, claiming that he had been subjected to torture during his police custody. Throughout these criminal proceedings which, according to the information in the case file to date, are still pending before the domestic courts, the applicant, who was remanded in custody until 1 February 2006, repeated that his statements during the preliminary investigation had been extracted from him under torture and ill-treatment.
16.  In the meantime, at the request of the Beyoğlu Assize Court, further medical examinations and tests were conducted on the applicant on 25 October 2000, 9 August 2002 and 14 May 2003. On 9 August 2002 the applicant was examined by doctors at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Section of Expertise of the Forensic Medicine Institute. It appears that the applicant, who was on hunger strike, suffered, inter alia, from hallucinations, memory deficit and schizophrenia of the Korsakoff syndrome type.
17.  On 9 July 2003 the 2nd Section of Expertise of the Forensic Medicine Institute, after examining the applicant's version of the facts and the medical reports contained in the case file, concluded that the applicant was suffering from an ulnar cubital turner syndrome on his right arm and slight axial motor neuropathy. However, it was not possible to conclude that these conditions had appeared as a result of alleged ill-treatment in custody. Moreover, there was no medical evidence to demonstrate that the applicant had suffered a traumatic lesion.
18.  On 7 December 2003 the Beyoğlu Assize Court, referring to the conclusions of the above report and other evidence in the case file, dismissed the applicant's objections.